Bond, James Bond

I'm so looking forward to seeing Quantum of Solace at some point this weekend. I haven't really delved into James Bond much on the ole blog, but it's truly one of my favorite series of movies. I love Daniel Craig as Bond and upon reading the old Ian Fleming books, he's now who I picture as Bond. Here's my ranking of the various actors who've played Bond.

1. Sean Connery
2. Daniel Craig
3. George Lazenby
4. Timothy Dalton
5. Roger Moore
6. Pierce Brosnan

Connery is my favorite (as he is most folks) and Daniel Craig has moved up to #2. Lazenby was excellent in On Her Majesty's Secret Service and it's a shame he only got one shot at playing Ian Fleming's superspy. Roger Moore and Pierce Brosnan were dreadful in the role of Bond at least in my opinion and the complete opposite of Fleming's Bond. Ian Fleming painted Bond to be a bit more dark and mysterious than Moore and Brosnan played the role. To me, Craig and Connery played Mr. Dark and Mysterious better than anyone else.

As for my favorite Bond flicks, here's the top five.

1. On Her Majesty's Secret Service-My favorite Bond movie of all time and has the greatest Theme Song (which I'll cover in a moment). James Bond falls in love with Tracy and watches her die. This movie had everything that makes a Bond movie great and Lazenby was fantastic as Bond.

2. You Only Live Twice-My favorite Connery role and one that I've watched probably 20 times. Great theme song and loads of action. Let's be honest though, even the greatest makeup couldn't make Connery look Japanese.


3. From Russia With Love- Great story, great love interest and lots of Action.

4. Casino Royale-I knew within the first ten minutes of the movie that Daniel Craig was going to be excellent in the role of Bond. The torture scenes were grueling and they even managed to make a card game interesting.

5. Goldfinger-"No I expect you to die Bond". No greater line in the James Bond series has ever been uttered. Great theme song, and a lady painted up in gold along with alot of action and suspense.



The 5 Worst James Bond Movies (In my opinion)

1. Moonraker-dreadful. Horrid Villian and horrible story.
2. Octopussy-Roger Moore in yet another dreadful performance
3. Tie-Tomorrow Never Dies, Goldeneye, The World is Not Enough, Die Another Day-I love Brosnan as an actor, but not as Bond. He was far too cheeky in the role for my tastes.
4. The Man with the Golden Gun-horrid and dreadful
5. Never Say Never Again-Not an official Bond release, but dreadful nonetheless.

The 5 Best Bond Theme Songs
1. The original Bond Theme-nothing is better
2. We Have all the Time in the World: Louis Armstrong- from OHMSS. Great song and everytime I hear it, I picture Bond and Tracy together again.
3. You Only Live Twice Nancy Sinatra-Forget that silly Boots song, this one's a winner
4. Goldfinger-Shirley Bassey's haunting vocals make this a great theme.
5. Live and Let Die-great song which became a great hit for Sir Paul McCartney

The 5 Worst Bond Theme Songs
1. Die Another Day-ugh Madonna has no business singing a Bond theme Song
2. The Man with the Golden Gun-bad, just bad
3. Moonraker-horrible movie, horrible song
4. License to Kill-I've never been a Patti Labelle fan and this one didn't do much for me
5. The World is Not Enough-I do like Garbage (the band not the trash) but this one was bad as well.

I'll add in that I don't like the Jack White Alicia Keys collaboration for Quantum of Solace either.

Well there you have it, my complete thoughts on Bond. I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I enjoyed writing them down.